The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 07, 1996
Filed:
Jul. 10, 1995
Paul E Bacchi, Novato, CA (US);
Paul S Filipski, Greenbrae, CA (US);
Kensington Laboratories, Inc., Richmond, CA (US);
Abstract
A prealigner (10) employs an X-Y stage (20) and a rotary stage (26) to position and orient a specimen (12) without centering it on the prealigner. The rotary stage is mounted on the X-Y stage and receives a semiconductor wafer (12) in a substantially arbitrary position and orientation. The prealigner employs the rotary stage and translation in only an X-axis direction to scan a peripheral edge (76) of the wafer across an optical scanning assembly (36, 270) to form a polar coordinate map of the wafer. A microprocessor (162) determines the location and orientation of the wafer from the map and cooperates with a motor drive controller (122, 280) to generate control signals for positioning and orienting the wafer in the preselected alignment without changing the location at which the wafer is held.